Fence



(No Modek) D. ,B. GILLESPIE.

FENCE. No. 366,089. Patented July 5, 1887.

lllulmlml NITEPD STATES PATEN rarest DUDLEY B. GILLESPIE, OF FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA.

FENCE.

$PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 366,089, dated July 5, 1887.

Application filed October 16, 1886. Serial No. 216,405.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, DUDLEY B. GILLnsPIE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Falls City, in the county of Richardson and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences; and I do declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invehtion has relation to improvements in fences; and it consists in a corrugated metallic strip or wire or sheet metal applied to fence rails and posts, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

Before describing the details of construction and the best manner of carrying my invention into practice, I desire to say that I am well awarethat it is not new to interpose a strip of metal between the posts and pickets of a fence, the same being shown in Patent No. 265,518. In this patent referred to a wire is employed to secure the pickets to the posts, and after the pickets have been bound to the sides of the post the wire is carried between the post and pickets to the top of the former. It should be here observed that the wire employed is not corrugatcd,but is perfectly plain, andis brought firmly against both the post and the pickets. It will also be seen that air cannot pass between the pickets and post; and should such a wire be placed in a horizontal position, water would not pass or fall between the posts or rails and pickets; but the wire itself would cause an obstruction and form a means for the lodgment of rain and moisture. These objections are overcome by the use of a corrugated strip or wire, as will appear from the following description and accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide an article which may be manufactured at a minimum cost and applied to any and all classes of fences, to prevent rotting of the pickets or boards at their joints, and may be also used on the engaging sides of posts. This object I (No model.)

accomplish by the means shown and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a picket fence with my improvements applied. Fig. 2 is a top view of the fence. Fig. 3 is a view of an ordinary fence-rail with my corri'igated' strip B indicates the fence-posts, which may be of any ordinary or approved construction for receiving and sustaining the fencerails O C, any suitable number being employed.

D indicates a metallic strip, which I have shown as being formed of wire, although it is obvious that the same may be formed of flat or other suitable metal. This strip is provided with numerous depressions and'projections its entire length,or,in other words,c0rrugated, so that when the same is secured to a rail there will be no means offered to retain water or moisture between the pickets and boards and the said strip or between the strip and the rail.

In attaching the strip to a rail, I find it desirable to employ staples, which straddle the wire at suitable points, and after the latter is stretched the staples are driven into the'rails.

The strip being applied, the pickets may be I driven or secured to the rails in the ordinary manner over the said strips. It will thus be seen that the pickets or rails do not come in contact with the wood rails, but are firi'nlyheld off by the corrugated strip and consequently rot or decay at such points prevented.

It is well known that the connects or joints between the rails and pickets or boards of a fence are the first to decay or rot, thereby impairing its usefulness and promoting its early destruction, and to overcome these objections has been an important desideratum in fence building. It is also obvious that where two posts are arranged in juxtaposition -such as a hinge and fence post-the strip may be interposed with an equally good result.

In using a wire, the same may be slightly twisted after it has been corrugated, so that it placed against the wires and secured to the will always lie on edge and not flat. said rails, substantially as specified. IO

Having described this invention, what I In testimony whereof I affix my signature claim is in presence of two witnesses.

An improved fence consisting of posts and DUDLEY B. GILLESPIE. longitudinal rails, longitudinal corrugated Vitnesses: wires D, secured to the longitudinal rails in a CHAS. LOREE,

horizontal position, as shown, and the pickets U. THEBER. 

